Monthly Archives: September 2016

In four weeks we will be taking our overnight field trip to the Owens Valley to tour and experience Manzanar. Manzanar was one of ten Japanese American relocation centers where over 10,000 out of 120,000 Japanese Americans were placed shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II. There we will see and learn how fear and discrimination wrongly affected the life of Japanese Americans as they were torn from their communities and forced to live in cramped, makeshift barracks. We will get to walk the grounds, see where and how the people lived, and get a firsthand feel of what life was like in Manzanar.

Here are some important details about the trip thus far. More details will be told as the trip approaches:

We will be meeting at 8:00 am sharp on Thursday morning at the school. We will pack the vehicles and be on our way to Manzanar. Please make sure your child eats a good-sized breakfast, as we will not be stopping to eat until lunch around noon.

Students are allowed to pack one overnight bag and not allowed to bring electronics, such as I-pods, I-pads, hand held video games, and personal DVD players.

Each child will need to bring $15 to $20 for food for two meals (fast food lunches) and snacks.

We will be returning between 4 pm to 5 pm Friday, October 21st. We will have students call their parents when we are close to home.

All parents are welcomed to come on the trip, but will need to pay $45 to cover the cost of the motel and Thursday night’s dinner.

We are in need of at least 3 parents who are willing to drive and take students with their own vehicles.

We will be staying at the Best Western, Lone Pine located a couple miles south of Manzanar.

Please return the permission slip form, signed, as soon as possible, no later than Wednesday, October 12th. Also, if you have any special needs or questions, please let Mrs. Barr or myself know.

Imagine you were told you, with no good reason you had to move to an unknown location.

What if you were only allowed to take what you could carry.

What if you only had two weeks to say good bye to your friends and pets.

What if phones and electronics weren’t allowed.

You don’t know how long you will be gone or where your are going. You can only pack what you can carry.

What would you bring? (Remember no pets or electronics.) How would you feel?

Answer the questions first, then read on.

This is what happened to over 120,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast of America after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during WWII. They were taken to relocation centers where they couldn’t leave. They ended up staying in these makeshift military barracks for over three years. There were ten camps in total the one closet to us is called Manzanar (pictured above), in the Owens Valley roughly three hours northeast from here. I want you to start asking yourself the question, why did this happen?

As we have been learning about Walt Disney and the power of ideas in animation, being a risk taker, believing in what he was doing and working hard at it, you have been challenged to make your own animation and flip books.

For now, here is a different idea of how to use a flipbook or drawings for something other than entertainment.

Students, usually when people your age create things or accomplish something, they want to be known, noticed or rewarded.

What is different about this person’s work? Who is the focus? How is their idea powerful?

Fifteen years ago some men, filled with hate, had an idea. An idea to cause ruin, pain and fear in the lives of those living in America. These men hijacked four planes to be used as weapons to destroy important American buildings. Two planes were used to crash into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, two financial buildings that eventually collapsed. Another crashed into the Pentagon, our country’s military headquarters, it was greatly damaged. One plane, with possible plans to crash into the White House, had passengers that fought against the hijackers, it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, no one survived the crash.

2,977 lives were lost in these terrorist attacks. Over 400 of the lives lost were firemen, police and other emergency responders trying to help evacuate the Twin Towers before they completely collapsed.

Through all this, as a country we stood united, but much has changed because of these actions.

At the same time prayer is still needed to those who have been affected the most by the loss of a loved one.

The video below is in memory of one of those lost. Please watch it and respond to the questions below.

What ideas behind this video make it so powerful?

How important is it that we think about the long-lasting affects of our ideas before we live them out?

It is great seeing everyone back after a long summer. I am looking forward to this year in getting to know you and sharing in the adventures God has for us. As you have already heard expressed on Thursday night, this history class is not a cookie cutter, from the book, class. It is instead intended for students to become well rounded thinkers, with the ability to see the ideas behind advertisements, movies, speeches, conversations, wars, and even amusement parks. We want to be able to recognize where an idea came from and were it might lead. There is power in ideas, to change people, relationships, places, and the whole world around us for either the benefit of others or for their demise. We want to encourage students to see the harm and the good ideas can have. We do this by taking in historical figures and events that are riveted by horrendous or excellent thinking.

As we start and end each months theme I will post what we are learning.

Power of Ideas meets every Tuesday – Thursday and will have a quick homework assignment every Tuesday Night to respond to starting 9/13/16